Carrying cases in all trades are necessary for the tradesman to perform his trade efficiently. A proper carrying case must be capable of holding many parts of different sizes and keeping these parts separate. It must also be portable so as to allow the tradesman to have easy access to the necessary parts or components. Without the aid of the carrying case, the tradesman would have to return to his truck or storage room whenever the need arose for a part that he did not have readily available. These constant returns to the truck or storage room greatly reduce the tradesman's efficiency and, hence, increase his job performance time which results in higher cost to the consumer. Even in the case of a tradesman who is not performing a service for payment, the inconvenience of returning for small parts takes away from time to work on the project. Many times when more time is spent on running back to get parts or supplies, the level of interest in the project declines. Therefore, any time-saving techniques or devices are quite helpful.
Even though many tradesmen such as artists and carpenters use utility boxes to hold their supplies, these boxes do not sufficiently keep the small parts from mixing in with other parts while the box is being carried. Once these parts get mixed together, the tradesman must spend time in separating them and/or searching for the desired part. As a result, the tradesman's efficiency declines.
In order to solve the problems of separate storage locations and mixing of parts, a carrying box that can contain a variety of storage compartments of different sizes that keep the individual parts from mixing in with each other, and that is easily carried, is desirable.
A variety of carrying cases for containing all sizes of parts has been designed and marketed. However, some of these previous designs are unable to keep the parts totally separated during transportation and, therefore, do not solve the existing problem of commingling of parts. Other designs that are capable of keeping small parts separate are not easily carried by the tradesman. Still other designs that can keep small parts separate and that are portable do not contain a sufficient portion of storage space. That is, these cases are relatively small and the tradesman is faced with carrying several individual boxes. As the tradesman is forced either to carry several small boxes, separate small parts, or return to a permanent storage base, his time for job performance decreases and as a result his job efficiency declines. This invention seeks to create a portable carrying case that is capable of keeping a large number of parts separate and has special utility for artisans and craftsmen who must have frequent access to small parts, supplies, and tools.
The prior devices marketed for use as utility component carrying cases utilize either a tray system of shelves that are hinged together to fold outward or a divider to separate the individual sides of the carrying case. These prior devices are capable of containing a variety of small parts within the case; however, none of these prior devices can prevent these small parts from mixing together during a transitory period such as from truck to work site. As a result of this mixing, the tradesman spends a large portion of his time separating the parts in order to locate the desired part. Also, these prior devices are limited in the space that is available for storage. Most of these devices contain only a few compartments of different size, and, therefore, the user is restricted in what he can place in the carrying case. Since there are restrictions in what can be placed in any one case, the user is forced to carry several cases and search through each case to locate the correct part.
Thus, it is an objective of the within invention to provide a utility component carrying case that can provide a means of keeping individual components secure, yet easily accessible, inside their individual compartments.
Another objective of the within invention is to provide a utility component carrying case that when in the open position presents all compartments for ready access.
Yet another objective is to provide a case with multiple interior chambers that are each arranged for access without interfering with access to others.
A final objective is to provide a novel hinging system that will enable movement of independent interior compartments within a case.
These and other objectives are achieved in novel fashion by the invention described below.